Improvement in folding chairs



J E. WAKEFIELD. Folding-Ohair.

No.'200,953. Patented March 5. i878.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. WAKEFIELD, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD W. VAILL, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOLDING CHAIRS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 200,953, dated March 5, 1878; application filed July 14, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN E. WAKEFIELD, of Worcester, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Folding Rocking-Chairs, of which the following is a specification:

I make use of a seat-frame which is pivoted at its rear ends to the back-frame of the chair, and receives a flexible seat between its front rail and the back, and this seat-frame is connected by links to the upper portions of the front legs, somewhat similar to the devices shown in my Patent No. 180,292. In this patent the seat-frame rests upon a cross-rail between the front legs, and there is a stop on the seat-frame to come into contact therewith.

In my present invention the links that connect the seat-frame and front legs swing down against a cross-rail or stop, so that the seatframe issupported only by the links, and the parts are positioned so as to strain the seat, and also prevent the chair folding or the parts changing position accidentally while the chair is in use 5 and I combine, with the parts made as aforesaid, rockers and supplemental back legs, that allow of the said improvement being used in a rocking-chair, and provide for the chair being folded into a small compass for transportation.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a section of the chair as in position for use, and Fig. 2 is an elevation with the parts folded for transportation.

The backframe is composed of the side pieces a and cross-pieces b, and the front legs 0 are pivoted at d to the back. The seat-frame e is made with the cross-bar f for the flexible seat, and it is hinged at h to the back legs a, and there are links I, pivoted at their lower ends 1 to the frame 6, and at their upper ends These parts are somewhat similar to those in the aforesaid patent; but the links I stop against the rail or stops 7:. instead of the frame 6 coming against a stop. The upper pivots 2 of the links lare preferably above the flexible seat m, and the position of the stops it is such that when the chair is unfolded for use the lower ends 1 of the links swing-past a straight line from d, passing through 2, so that the front legs cannot be moved toward the back legs until the joints 1 have been pressed downwardly, and the flexible seat still further stretched by the toggle action of the links I and upper parts of the legs 0, pressing down the seat-frame 0; hence the tension of the seat prevents the chair folding, and gives rigidity to the chair by drawing the links 1 against the stops n.

When the chair is to be folded the back legs are pressed toward the front legs, and in so doing the seat is slightly stretched as the parts assume the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. l, and the further movement folds the parts into the position shown in Fig. 2. By this construction the chair cannot be folded without increasing the tension on the flexible seat; hence the chair is not liable to fold accidentally when lifted.

This chair might be used without rockers. I have, however, shown the rockers t hinged to the front legs, and the supplemental back legs at hinged at their upper ends to the bottom parts of the chair-back frame, and at the lower ends to the rockers, so that the rockers will fold up behind the back-frame, as seen in Fig. 2.

In Letters Patent No. 179,982, granted to me, a folding chair is shown with the links at the sides of the seat-frame, in contact with stops when the chair is open; but the lower ends of the links are slotted, and hence they do not sustain the seat-frame, nor form a joint.

I claim as my invention 1. In a folding chair containing the back legs a, front legs 0, jointed at d, and seatframe 0, jointed at h, the links I, jointed attheir upper ends to the legs 0, and at their lower ends to the seat-frame e, and the stops it upon the legs 0 behind the links I, for the purposes and substantially as set forth.

2. A seat or seat-frame attached at h to the back, the links l connecting the seat-frame to the front legs and the flexible seat, in combination with the rockers t and supplemental back legs u, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 10th day of July, A. D. 1877.

JOHN E. WAKEFIELD.

Witnesses:

O. S. GORDON, A. B. DUNIBAR. 

